Despite Mickey Loomis’ comments about seeing Deuce in a Saints uniform in 2008, the club, I think, has no intention of paying him next year. He’s set for a balloon payment in his contract, which usually means they’ll cut him, unless he renegotiates. See Joe horn.

Reggie Bush was interviewed yesterday by the NFL Network and said he felt like he could be a feature back and carry the load. He said he went into Sean Payton’s office and said, “I’m your guy.”

He was interviewed by phone from Los Angeles. I guess he didn’t want to stick around New Orleans.

I still doubt his ability to run between the tackles until I see it. Barry Sanders and he are about the same size, so he would benefit from watch old Lions games. For now, I still Aaron Stecker and he tag teaming the job. Deuce protege Thomas St. Pierre has the same body type as the big man and could fit nicely into the scheme.

However, without Deuce the Saints running game will take a major step backward. They need to get away from the gadget plays and re-figure out how to establish the run.

NEW ORLEANS — Saints running back Deuce McAllister had surgery Thursday to repair ligaments he tore in his left knee during Monday night’s 31-14 loss to Tennessee.

Deuce McAllister

Running Back
New Orleans Saints

Profile

Dr. James Andrews, in Birmingham, Ala., repaired McAllister’s anterior cruciate ligament and then cleaned up his right knee, which had been surgically repaired following a similar tear in October 2005, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said.

“We are very pleased to hear that Deuce’s surgery went well,” Loomis said. “We’re confident that his rehabilitation will go well and everyone in the Saints organization is looking forward to having Deuce back on the field in a Saints uniform in 2008.”

McAllister, in a statement released by the team, thanked everyone for their prayers and well wishes. “I’m eager to begin the rehab process and to get back with my teammates as soon as possible,” he said.

McAllister had the second season-ending knee injury in three seasons during the second quarter of the team’s home opener. He landed awkwardly after catching a short pass from Drew Brees. And, though he walked off the field, the Saints’ career leading rusher said he was worried.

“Once I got to the sideline, I knew it,” McAllister said this week. “I didn’t want to believe it, but just taking the walk to the locker room I could feel it just kind of giving way a little bit and that was just kind of reminiscent of how the other one felt.”

Five games into the 2005 season, McAllister tore his right ACL during a run in Green Bay. After reconstructive surgery, he returned to rush for 1,057 yards in 2006, helping the Saints to the NFC South title and a playoff victory over Philadelphia.

This is too funny to be real. Courtesy of Arthur.

Breaking news from the New Orleans Saints
NEWS BRIEF:
New Orleans Saints football practice was delayed nearly 2 hours after a
player reported finding an unknown white powdery substance on the practice
field.
New Orleans Police and Federal Investigators were called to investigate.
Head coach Sean Payton immediately suspended practice while the
investigation was underway.
After a complete analysis, FBI forensic experts determined that the white
substance unknown to the players, was the goal line.
Practice resumed after special agents decided that the team was unlikely to
encounter the substance again..

 Complements of Chad.

Posted: Tuesday, 25 September 2007 5:12PM

“You feel helpless because it’s about making plays. Guys respect you when you can go out and make plays on the field. That’s what it’s about – not only on this team, but any team. A lot of times it may come down to not being good in the locker room that it breaks the chemistry, but it’s about making plays. I can’t do that right now.”

Or a giant 50-foot gold plated robot to vanquish the foes of it’s enemies with better game plans.

Oh, and I still think we shouldn’t have cut Michael Lewis and Joe Horn. Call me crazy, but locker room leadership is important. But what do I know?

Uhhhhgggggg

Here’s a long AP story submitted by Arthur about the Saints’ importance to the regional recovery. Healthy or not, our hopes are pinned to the performance of a professional football team.

Brett Martel brings up some great points: What happened to this year’s draft? Where is the impact from off season signees? The club was quiet over the summer, which I took to be a good thing; that they had gotten their house in order. Were they instead sleeping at the wheel?

Maybe playing back in the dome on Monday will bring some of the magic back.

By the way, Drew Brees is going to be on WWL Radio at 6:30 p.m. today (Wed) talking to Bobby Hebert.

Keeping faith with the Saints

By BRETT MARTEL=
AP Sports Writer=

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ In being outscored 72-24 in their opening two losses,
the New Orleans Saints have set the stage for potentially one of the worst
disappointments that even their fans have endured.

If their troubles continue, it wouldn’t be the first time the Saints
have followed a nice playoff run with disappointment a year later.

But more is at stake this time in the post-Hurricane Katrina landscape.

Just this past week, Mark Singletary, publisher of the local business
magazine “City Business,” labeled the Saints’ continued success a key
component to the overall health of post-Katrina New Orleans.

He recalled that when asked to name five things that had gone well in
the recovery, he listed the Saints first.

There are other things he could have listed higher: the recovering music
and restaurant scenes; the rebuilt convention center; the return of
filmmakers producing motion pictures and network television shows; the
armies of volunteers who have cleaned up neighborhoods and gutted houses to
ease the burden on residents trying to return; the reopening of the zoo,
aquarium and art museums; the reopening of the city’s universities; and the
tireless work of preservationists to save large portions of the city’s
priceless but storm-damaged historic housing stock.

How could the success of a football team mean that much?

For one, players have been active in community service projects and
promoting both the city’s needs and enduring attributes on a national stage.

But perhaps it’s also because the Saints seem to be a unifying force in a city where people are diverse and where taste in music, food, art and architecture is sometimes divergent. Believe it or not, not everyone loves the soft-shell crab at Antoine’s or the turtle soup at Commander’s Palace.

Yet, the Saints’ iconic black-and-gold fleur-de-lis is omnipresent, worn by fashionable women strolling by Magazine Street boutiques, by rap artists who grew up in some of the city’s rougher neighborhoods, by bohemians who play late night jazz gigs in the French Quarter and live in old rustic shotgun houses in a nearby neighborhood called Bywater.

As long as the Saints are winning and capture national interest, they continue to showcase the energy, pride and hope of the region’s residents. They continue to inspire hope among the diaspora of displaced residents who are still considering taking on the struggle to come back and rebuild. They inspire those still in the midst of the struggle two years after the storm.

It’s why their turnaround from 3-13 in 2005 to 10-6 and a first-ever
appearance in the NFC championship game in 2006 was such a great story. It’s
why so many here want to believe the Saints can contend for the Super Bowl
this year.

Some of that belief was based in reality. Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister
and Drew Brees are legitimate stars.

Sean Payton is the reigning NFL coach of the year. General manager
Mickey Loomis won recognition after a 2006 draft that produced seven
starters through a combination of picks and trades.

Then there was the signing of Brees and linebacker Scott Fujita during
free agency, a trade that brought in starting linebacker Mark Simoneau and
the signing of starting linebacker Scott Shanle.

This year, the Saints’ draft hasn’t yielded any starters. Payton says
even first-round pick Robert Meachem isn’t close to being ready.

Free-agent signings? They brought in cornerback Jason David and safety Kevin Kaesviharn to address the Saints’ problems with giving up big plays last season. Both were beaten on Joey Galloway’s 69-yard touchdown last Sunday. New linebacker Brian Simmons, signed as a free agent, hardly plays, while fellow free-agent linebacker Dhani Jones didn’t even make the team.

The Saints have allowed five long touchdown passes already. Their offense, best in the league last season, has turned the ball over five times and produced only two touchdowns. The Saints haven’t been able to run the ball consistently. During most of the second half in Tampa Bay, McAllister stood stoically on the sidelines, watching teammates attempt to score a meaningless touchdown. A proud, powerful running back, a battering ram who punishes tacklers, was of little use to a team that had fallen so far behind.

McAllister has averaged more than 4 yards per carry during the last two games, but has only gotten to run the ball 20 times in two games for 87 yards. What a sad waste of the greatest running back ever to play for the Saints, a workhorse who’s still in his prime at 28 and already owns every significant rushing record in franchise history.

n fact, the Saints haven’t won since McAllister rushed for 143 yards in a playoff game against Philadelphia. The Saints have a lot to fix and little time to do it with an improving Tennessee Titans squad visiting on Monday night.

Payton said he’s told players to be honest and hard on themselves as they evaluate their mistakes from the past two games. Teams that open 0-2 have made the playoffs before. Dallas (1993) and New England (2001) even won Super Bowls.

This Friday, the Saints will hold a pep rally outside their headquarters during which Payton and some players will address fans. They’re trying to get the magic back, and Brees believes they will.

“This is happening to us for a reason,” Brees said this week. “It’s only going to make us stronger. It’s only going to bring us together as a team. And sometimes you need something like this to happen to provoke that kind ofthing. … I believe in our team, and there’s still a lot to be accomplished this year. By no means are we out of it.”

Forget the pundits for a moment. The statistical power rankings by CBS Sportline has the Saints weighing in at an anemic second to last place behind the hapless Buffalo Bills. What weight does this collection of stats have over any other poll? None.  The point is we’re 0-2. Not even a close 0-2. We’re a really bad 0-2.  Get out the paper bags, and let’s get the old carnival show back on the road because the Aints are marching in, again.

Because they improvise, starting with Vince Young. Sure he can pass, and each week coach Jeff Fisher makes a star out of an otherwise b-grade running back corps. But Young is a special player. He’s not easy to take down, and when you flush him out of the pocket he makes plays on the run with his arm and legs. So when those flimsy Saints cornerbacks and safeties spot him moving around and lose a step trying to decide what to do, he’ll already have won.

Tennessee is a hungry team. They gelled at the end of last season, but didn’t get it done. And last week they lost to the Colts by two points. They’re pissed, and I expect looking for vindication against the league’s highest profile paper tigers — whose track record last season is working against them as teams have them in their cross hairs. No one wants to be the team that puts the Saints and their 2006 offensive carnival back on track.

They’ll cover Reggie Bush like a blanket, and send a postcard to the Saints defensive backs from the end zone.

Where is Deuce in all of this? Why are we seeing Bush take so many hand-offs on running plays, when it was always McAllister that softened the line and Bush that spread defenses in the flats or from the backfield? I want to see McAllister make their ankles shake, and I want to see Bush make them break.

How much do you miss a good receiver with hands? Marquis Colston is fairly solid again, although not the fastest guy on the track. But Devery Henderson? He was never the best catcher, and supposedly working on that. He’s got wheels, just no gloves. We have got to do more to keep the Saints offense on the field, and keep defenses guessing. They’re playing us short. And we’ve got to trust our linebackers and linemen to do their job, and make the D-backs put all their energy on these receivers. We’re making 35 year old Joe Galloways young again.

Where to begin? Somebody has been infected with the amnesia bug on this ball club, which I fear has spread. You’re only one season away from 3-13 and the league’s perrenial punching bag. Don’t forget that.
It’s one thing to take things one play at a time and expect the best, as QB Drew Brees said in the post game conference after the 14-31 embarrassment by the Tampa Bay Bucs. However, you have to take it. You have to claw, scratch and fight for the best. This team left its fight back in the pre-season. Where is the One - Two punch of Bush and McAllister? Where is the G.D. defense!? What in the hell happened to our team?

Where is the hunger? Someone needs to give these guys the proverbial pink slips and start a new club of hungry competitors, because what we have seen is less than half-ass. To leave it on the field, you have to bring it in the first place, and from what I’ve seen the reserves are empty.

Somebody help these guys out. Show them the door, and come back when you’ve found your brass balls please.

After their beat down by the Colts, the Saints slipped in the CBS Sportsline Power Rankings to number 12. But the pundits are weighing in — still paying homage to Sean Payton’s offensive prowess and telling fans not to panic.

The Saints were also served a piece of humble pie in their pre-season opener against the Steelers that was arguably uglier than last week. They bounced back. Brees especially, which is critical.

He’s got some bad games in him. Last year when he broke the Saints single game passing record against the Bengals, he also threw 3 (or was it 4?) interceptions and lost that game. Another mental error in the NFC Championship game against the Bears landed him on his back in the wrong end zone costing the team a safety. He’s not perfect. But he is resilient, which is why he’s special.

Don’t double the Saints will return to form. Maybe they won’t be so cute on offense with too many trick plays. Maybe Deuce will get a chance to pound the ball and punch the Tamba Bay line in the mouth. Maybe the Saints secondary pickup, Jason David, will take his head out of his ass and keep an eye on his receivers. Just maybe the Saints can take a win home back to New Orleans against a divisional rival.